The Missing Dough(37)

“Leave your car here. His place is four doors down that way. It’s called BEM Enterprises.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“No time for pleasantries. Go!”

We did as she suggested, and as we neared the building in question, we found a man loading the back of his BMW with boxes.

When he turned to go back for more, I wasn’t all that surprised to find that it was the same man we’d seen arguing with Grant in the shadows of the fair the night before.

Apparently, Bernie Maine had the opportunity, the means, and the motive to get rid of Maddy’s ex-husband. And now he was trying to escape.

Maddy was starting after him when I put a hand on her arm.

“What are you doing, Eleanor? We can’t just stand here and let him get away.”

“How are we going to stop him? I have to call Kevin and see if he has any connections in town. The only way Bernie’s not going to run is if we have the police stop him.”

“Dial fast, then,” she said.

I called Kevin Hurley, and after his gruff response, I said, “You can chew me out later for digging into something that’s none of my business, but do you know that Bernie Maine, Grant’s former business partner, is getting ready to leave town?”

“Where is he?” Kevin said. “What’s he doing in Timber Ridge?”

“He’s not. He’s packing up his office in Cow Spots, and it looks like it’s for good. Do you know anybody here that could slow him down until you can get here yourself to question him? If we have to, Maddy and I will stand in front of his car so he can’t pull out, if you think that would help.”

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Kevin said “I’m on it.” And then he hung up.

“What did he say?” Maddy asked after I put my phone back in my pocket.

“He told us not to do anything stupid,” I answered, relaying the message.

“Well, he’s going to have to be a lot more specific than that,” she said just as the business’s door opened again. Bernie Maine was coming out with a briefcase under his arm and an overnight bag in his free hand. He locked his office and was heading for his car when Maddy said, “I’m sorry, Eleanor, but we can’t wait another minute.”

Before I could stop her, she rushed toward Maine, somehow managing to get between him and his car.

The man was clearly startled by her behavior, and with good reason, in my opinion. My sister could be a real force to reckon with when she put her mind to it. “Who are you, and what do you want?” he asked. It was clear from his voice that she’d really shaken him up with her abrupt and sudden appearance. The man was jumpy. There was no doubt about that.

“I want to talk to you about Grant Whitmore,” she said as I joined her. If it was possible, he was even less pleased to see that now there were two of us blocking his way.

“I don’t have anything to say to you, or anyone else, about my former partner,” Maine said harshly.

“Yeah, well, I’m his former wife, so that trumps your position to keep quiet,” Maddy said. “Talk, buster.”

He looked taken aback by that bit of information, so I decided to turn up the heat even more. “We saw you arguing with him last night in Timber Ridge, at the fair,” I added, “so we know that you had contact with him, and recently.”

“That’s impossible. You’re clearly mistaken. I wasn’t anywhere near there.”

“There’s no use lying. We both saw you there,” I said.

“You might have thought you did, but you are wrong. I’m going now, so I’d advise you both to stay out of my way.” Bernie Maine looked as though he would push us both to get to his car, so I tugged on Maddy’s arm and pulled her out of the way.

“We can’t just let him go,” she protested.

“We don’t have any choice.” Despite what I’d told Chief Hurley, I wasn’t about to do anything as drastic as trying to stop him by force. Where were our reinforcements? Was Bernie Maine going to just drive away? I had a hunch that he’d be impossible to find once he left town.

The BMW started and was beginning to pull away when a police car suddenly appeared, neatly cutting off the luxury car’s escape.

Maine got out at the same time that the officer did, and from the redness of his face, he was about to start screaming.

The cop cut him off, though. “Mr. Maine, the chief asked me to hold you here until he gets a chance to come by, and I’d consider it a personal favor if you did it voluntarily.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Well, if you really want to play it that way, then I’ll just have to find a way to persuade you,” the deputy said, a hint of steel in his voice now. It was clear there was no love lost between the two men, and I wondered how far the cop was willing to push it.